"Insieme: 1992" (Italian pronunciation: [inˈsjɛːme ˌmilleˌnɔveˈtʃɛnto noˌvantaˈduːe]; "Together: 1992") is a song written and recorded by Toto Cutugno. It represented Italy in the Eurovision Song Contest 1990, held in Zagreb, resulting in the country's second victory in the contest.

"Insieme: 1992"
Single by Toto Cutugno
LanguageItalian
B-side"Instrumental"
Released1990
Recorded1990
GenrePop[1]
Length4:00
LabelEMI
Songwriter(s)Salvatore Cutugno
Producer(s)Number Two
Toto Cutugno singles chronology
"Gli amori"
(1990)
"Insieme: 1992"
(1990)
"Che sera"
(1992)
Eurovision Song Contest 1990 entry
Country
Artist(s)
Salvatore Cutugno
As
With
Language
Composer(s)
Salvatore Cutugno
Lyricist(s)
Salvatore Cutugno
Conductor
Gianni Madonini
Finals performance
Final result
1st
Final points
149
Entry chronology
◄ "Avrei voluto" (1989)
"Comme è ddoce 'o mare" (1991) ►
Official performance video
"Insieme: 1992" on YouTube

Background

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Conception

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"Insieme: 1992" was written and recorded by Toto Cutugno with Italian lyrics. He sang about bringing the disparate nations of Europe together. The "1992" of the title refers to the year in which the European Union was scheduled to begin operation, thus bringing the hope of the lyric to fruition.[2]

Eurovision

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Radiotelevisione italiana (RAI) internally selected the song as its entrant for the 35th edition of the Eurovision Song Contest. For the song to participate in the contest, it was necessary to shorten it to fit into three minutes.[3]

On 5 May 1990, the Eurovision Song Contest was held at the Vatroslav Lisinski Concert Hall in Zagreb hosted by Radiotelevizija Zagreb on behalf of Jugoslavenska radiotelevizija (JRT), and broadcast live throughout the continent. Cutugno performed "Insieme: 1992" nineteenth on the evening, following Sweden's "Som en vind" by Edin-Ådahl and preceding Austria's "Keine Mauern mehr" by Simone. He was accompanied on stage by a backing group of five singers from Slovenia, the group Pepel in kri [sl] –Zvezdana Sterle, Ditka Haberl, Tadej Hrušovar "Dejvi", Oliver Antauer, and Miran Rudan–, who had represented Yugoslavia in 1975. Gianni Madonini conducted the event's orchestra in the performance of the Italian entry.[4]

At the close of voting, the song had received 149 points, placing first in a field of twenty-two, winning the contest.[5] This was Italy's second victory in the contest.

Live arrangement

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As Slovenian backup singer Tadej Hrušovar remembers: "The first rehearsal was a total disaster, that's why I offered to re-arrange the song by myself. Cotugno told us (backup singers) let's just get over with it, nothing good will come out of this. We rehearsed backvocals kicking intro 'Insieme, unite, unite, Europe' really poorly for quite some time. Delegations from other countries looked at us really strangely and I was really embarrassed. I had enough and told Cotugno, that's it I will do appropriate rearrangment of the song all by mself. We can't just fool around, our band (Pepel in kri) has a great reputation in Yugoslavia. So i did correct the arrangement and studied it with the other band members. After two days we had the second rehearsal and when we 'hit' that kick intro, Cotugno turned around with his mouth open, couldn't believe how powerful it sounds. Then panic also started among the rest of the delegations, who didn't take us seriously before. Then suddenly they started coming up to us, asking who we are".[6]

Aftermath

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As the winning broadcaster, the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) gave RAI the responsibility to host the following edition of the Eurovision Song Contest. This contest, held on 4 May 1991, opened with its hosts, Cutugno and Gigliola Cinquetti, performing their Eurovision winning songs, "Insieme: 1992" and "Non ho l'età" respectively.[7]

Track listings

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CD single

  1. "Insieme: 1992" – 4:00
  2. "Insieme: 1992" (instrumental) – 4:00

7" single

  1. "Insieme: 1992" – 4:00
  2. "Insieme: 1992" (instrumental) – 4:00

Charts

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Certifications

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Region Certification Certified units/sales
France (SNEP)[24] Silver 200,000*
Switzerland (IFPI Switzerland)[25] Gold 25,000^

* Sales figures based on certification alone.
^ Shipments figures based on certification alone.

Legacy

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Covers

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  • In 1990 Kari Tapio recorded the song in Finnish titled Lapset suomenmaan (Children of the country of Finland). [26]
  • In 1990 Slovenian vocal band Pepel in kri, who also performed as Cotugno's backvocals, did Slovenian version called "Evropa '92"[27][28]
  • Turkish pop singer, Yasemin Kumral covered it as Birlikte (Together in Turkish) [29] in her 1990 album, Uzaylı Dostum (My alien friend in Turkish).[30]
  • In 1998, Roland Kaiser recorded a German version "Extreme".

References

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  1. ^ Petridis, Alexis (May 11, 2023). "All 69 Eurovision song contest winners – ranked!". The Guardian. Retrieved September 15, 2024.
  2. ^ "Insieme: 1990 - lyrics". The Diggiloo Thrush.
  3. ^ "National Selections: 1990". Eurovisionworld.
  4. ^ "Eurovision Song Contest 1990". Eurovision Song Contest. 5 May 1990. JRT / EBU.
  5. ^ "Official Eurovision Song Contest 1990 scoreboard". Eurovision Song Contest.
  6. ^ "Kako so Slovenci leta 1990 zmagali na Evroviziji" (in Slovenian). Siol. 14 May 2019.
  7. ^ "Eurovision Song Contest 1991". Eurovision Song Contest. 4 May 1991. RAI / EBU.
  8. ^ "Toto Cutugno – Insieme: 1992" (in German). Ö3 Austria Top 40. Retrieved 17 August 2012.
  9. ^ "Toto Cutugno – Insieme: 1992" (in Dutch). Ultratop 50. Retrieved 6 October 2012.
  10. ^ "Eurochart Hot 100 Singles" (PDF). Music & Media. 11 August 1990. Retrieved 19 June 2021.
  11. ^ Pennanen, Timo (2021). "Toto Cutugno". Sisältää hitin - 2. laitos Levyt ja esittäjät Suomen musiikkilistoilla 1.1.1960–30.6.2021 (PDF) (in Finnish). Helsinki: Kustannusosakeyhtiö Otava. p. 55. Retrieved 12 August 2023.
  12. ^ "Toto Cutugno – Insieme: 1992" (in French). Les classement single. Retrieved 17 August 2012.
  13. ^ "Classifiche". Musica e Dischi (in Italian). Retrieved 29 May 2023. Set "Tipo" on "Singoli". Then, in the "Titolo" field, search "Insieme: 1992".
  14. ^ "Top40 week 24 van 1990 (16-06-1990)" (in Dutch). Dutch Top 40. Retrieved 17 August 2012.
  15. ^ "Toto Cutugno – Insieme: 1992" (in Dutch). Single Top 100. Retrieved 17 August 2012.
  16. ^ "Top 3 Singles in Europe" (PDF). Music & Media. Vol. 7, no. 35. 8 September 1990. p. VII. OCLC 29800226. Retrieved 3 September 2021 – via World Radio History.
  17. ^ "Toto Cutugno – Insieme: 1992". Swiss Singles Chart. Retrieved 17 August 2012.
  18. ^ "Offiziellecharts.de – Toto Cutugno – Insieme: 1992" (in German). GfK Entertainment charts. Retrieved 14 March 2019.
  19. ^ "Jahreshitparade - Singles - 1990" (in Dutch). Austriancharts.at. Hung Medien. Retrieved 17 August 2012.
  20. ^ "Jaaroverzichten 1990". Ultratop. Retrieved 14 December 2020.
  21. ^ "Eurochart Hot 100 of 1990" (PDF). Music & Media. Vol. 7, no. 51. 22 December 1990. p. 60. OCLC 29800226. Retrieved 15 January 2020 – via American Radio History.
  22. ^ 1990 Swiss Singles Chart Hitparade.ch Archived 2014-02-01 at the Wayback Machine (Retrieved 15 May 2008)
  23. ^ "Top 100 Single-Jahrescharts". GfK Entertainment (in German). offiziellecharts.de. Retrieved 14 December 2020.
  24. ^ "French single certifications – Toto Cutugno – Insieme: 1992" (in French). InfoDisc. Retrieved November 24, 2021. Select TOTO CUTUGNO and click OK. 
  25. ^ "The Official Swiss Charts and Music Community: Awards ('Insieme: 1992')". IFPI Switzerland. Hung Medien.
  26. ^ Title=Lapset suomenmaan|Publisher=Äänitearkisto|Referred=10.4.2024}}
  27. ^ "Insieme Evropa '92 in drugi evrovizijski uspehi". discogs.com.
  28. ^ "Evropa '92". YouTube.
  29. ^ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-To7KfJWvSE Yasemin Kumral-Birlikte
  30. ^ https://www.discogs.com/release/10492897-Yasemin-Kumral-Uzaylı-Dostum Uzaylı Dostum album
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Preceded by Eurovision Song Contest winners
1990
Succeeded by